Ever since the conclusion of the frustrating scoreless home draw against the Worms last week, pundits have pointed to today's game at Chivas USA as the match where Metro would get its groove back. Contrary to their competitors in Montreal and Salt Lake, who each hung a gaggle of goals on inferior competition, Metro went to Carson and exposed themselves as pretenders to the regular season throne by losing to the pathetic Goats, 3:2. It was a performance of the lowest caliber from a number of Metros who were outplayed by many of Chivas's lesser, borderline professional players.

Jamison Olave's absence through injury meant S. Markus Holgersson slid back into his familiar central defense role, alongside Ibrahim Sekagaya. Brandon Barklage returned to the starting lineup at right back, across from the stalwart Roy Miller. The midfield and striker pairing remained unchanged from the previous match.

Metro at least showed a little more fight in the first half-hour of the match than they had in the last away match at Columbus, but due to Fabian Espindola's typical poor finishing, they had nothing to show for their encouraging attacking play. The Argentine's wasteful play was punished in the 30th minute, when Julio Morales used the inexplicably retreating Roy Miller as a screen to fool Luis Robles with a placed shot into the right corner.

At least this time, Metro would immediately respond. Less than a minute later, a Barklage run up the right ended with him winning a corner. Thierry Henry looped the corner kick toward the back post, where Tim Cahill, having sent Holgersson into the crowd as a pick, was waiting to head the ball home.

The game finally turned for the worse two minutes into first-half extra time. Sekagaya, who had been impressive once again in central defense up until that point, inexplicably hammered Chivas forward Erick Torres to the ground in the box. Torres converted the ensuing penalty, slotting the ball to the left as Robles committed to the other side.

Based on their second half response to the unexpected challenge from their opponents, the Metro players might as well have just packed up and left the stadium at halftime. Emboldened by their surprising lead, the Goats kept up the pressure and broke through a third time in the 81st minute, again through Torres. Dax McCarty scored a garbage-time goal, but by then it was too little, too late.

Another year, another disappointing campaign. It's starting to get old with this team, with the endless procession of managers and executives that never seem to learn from the mistakes of the previous regimes and players that don't seem to care. The season's far from over, but realistically this is a team that will be fighting for a spot in the playoffs, not the top spot in the league.